“If it doesn’t happen this year then fine. We’ll go with someone next year.

“Shirt sales are ahead of target which, given the current climate, is extremely good. They are collectors’ items.

“When you sell a sponsorship package they demand hospitality and ad boardings yet we’ve sold that out already. Anecdotally the fans appreciate the shirt.”

The going rate for shirt sponsorship deals varies between £400,000 a year for Championship or lower-end Premier League clubs, rising up to the reported £12million Manchester United bring in from their association with AIG.

Peace would, ideally, like to reach an agreement with a multi-national company.

“We took a conscious decision, back in the summer, that the sponsorship of a Premier League club had access to about 600 million people worldwide,” added Peace.

“There’s a price at which we’ll do a deal and a price at which we won’t.

‘‘I feel very strongly about that.

“We had a number of companies who came to us who could pay a certain price, but not an international price.

“What we don’t want is a more localised partner who can’t afford to pay us the money and doesn’t need the international exposure.”